Unproductive lakes are generally supersaturated with carbon dioxide (CO2) and emit CO2 to the atmosphere continuously during ice-free periods. However, temporal variation of the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and thus of CO2 evasion to atmosphere is poorly documented. We therefore carried out temporally high-resolution (every 6 h) measurements of the pCO2 using an automated logger system in the surface water of a subarctic, unproductive, lake in the birch forest belt. The study period was June–September 2004. We found that the pCO2 showed large seasonal variation, but low daily variation. The seasonal variation was likely mainly caused by variations in input and mineralization of allochthonous organic matter. Stratification depth probably also influenced pCO2 of the surface water by controlling the volume in which mineralization of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) occurred. In lakes, with large variations in pCO2, as in our study lake a high (weekly) sampling intensity is recommended for obtaining accurate estimates of the evasion of CO2.